


from the ashes

by friendlyneighbourhoodelf



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Badass Katara (Avatar), F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Slow Burn, Toph Beifong and Zuko are Siblings, Zuko (Avatar) Needs a Hug, Zuko Joins The Gaang Early (Avatar), and i want to be on the safe side, mature because i don't know what counts as teen, maybe a bit of mailee becasue i'm weak, toph swears, zukka - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:00:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25749286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/friendlyneighbourhoodelf/pseuds/friendlyneighbourhoodelf
Summary: Zuko is banished, but isn't given the hope of returing. He isn't given the task of finding the avatar, instead he roams the earth kingdom as the Blue Spirit. Meanwhile, the gaang are being pursued by Zhao. Everyone is doing mostly fine, until the gaang find Zuko in a valley full of ashes.Zuko is a firebender, Aang needs a teacher. Problem is, Zuko is trying very hard to stay out of the war.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 102
Kudos: 1048





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote the first part of this instead of working on my other fic, but I've had the idea of a while. Honestly, I just wanted to write something vaguely dark and atla related. 
> 
> Possible tw: references to death from a fire (it's not graphically described, I just wanted to make sure you're aware)

“Woah,” Sokka breathed, peering over the edge of Appa’s saddle, “what is that?” 

“Well, I’ve got no idea.” Toph announced. 

“It looks as if someone’s set fire to the entire valley.” Katara said, probably to help Toph rather than answer Sokka’s question. Which was fair, Sokka thought grumpily, he could see the ashes below him, he knew what it _was,_ he supposed a better question was why. 

“Fire nation.” Aang’s voice was low and dangerous, it was the voice that only really appeared when Aang spoke about the fire nation. Sokka wasn’t really scared of Aang (perhaps when he’d first seen him go into the avatar state), but sometimes he could see how he would be. 

“Why would they do that?” Katara’s voice was soft, it was moments like this, Sokka knew, that his sister found it hard to find the hope they all relied on. 

If it wasn’t for the ashes of the valley below them, Sokka would’ve laughed, he wasn’t surprised the fire nation were happy to set whole valleys on fire. Besides, they’d seen the ashes of a forest only weeks prior, this wasn’t too different. 

“We should go down and look.” Aang’s voice was softer now, tone closer to Katara’s. 

Sokka nodded. He knew logically that there was no reason for them to land in the valley, he wasn’t sure of Aang’s reason either, but a part of him needed to properly see it, as if to verify that it was truly real. It was as if the valley needed to be mourned, for someone to remember that before it was ashes there was something there, that before the grey there had been green. 

They descended quietly, the air felt heavy, as they neared the ground, Sokka realised that it wasn’t just the quiet sense of dread, the air was hotter. Despite the heat, he shivered, the fire was recent. He couldn’t explain the sense of horror that passed over him, whether it had been years ago, or hours didn’t matter, where there once was a valley there was ashes, he couldn’t change that. _But you could’ve stopped it._ He shook his head; it was too late now.   
They climbed down from Appa, Sokka coughed as the ashes rose around them, then settled, dusting their clothes in grey. Down here, the warmth was even more obvious, heat still hung in the air like fog. 

“Guys,” Toph’s voice broke through the silence, it was quiet, which only added to the wrongness, “there were buildings here.” 

Another wave of horror washed over Sokka.

“Were there,” Katara’s voice caught in her throat, Sokka knew what she was about to say, a part of him didn’t want to know the answer, “people?” 

Toph nodded. 

Sokka felt sick. 

They stood there for a long time. Toph leant against him, and he leant against Appa, Katara was at his other side, Aang’s head against her shoulder. No one spoke. The air felt heavy. 

The little voice in Sokka’s head whispered, _you could’ve helped them,_ he shook his head, it was too late, he’d been too late, the little voice whispered, _you aren’t good enough,_ Sokka didn’t argue. 

He looked across the valley, there had been people here, families. His chest ached a little. Then something caught his eye. 

“I think,” his voice didn’t sound like his own, he coughed, “I think there’s a person.” 

The others were suddenly alert. 

“Fire nation?” Katara asked, she was already opening the pouch that held her bending water. 

“I,” Sokka squinted, he couldn’t see the figure’s face, only dark hair, “I’m not sure.” 

“Maybe they’re a survivor?” Aang’s voice sounded carefully hopeful. 

Sokka thought it was unlikely. 

“We should check.” 

They approached the figure, weapons raised, the closer they got the more certain Sokka became that the figure wasn’t a fire nation soldier. He had no armour, and his hair was loose and messy, neither thing suggested that he was a soldier. They grew closer, and still the figure didn’t move, he was knelt amongst the ashes, his back rigid and still. 

They paused behind the figure, they were now close enough to touch him, and still he hadn’t moved. 

“Hello?” Katara spoke first, there was no response. 

Katara looked at him questioningly, he shrugged in response.

“Hey, buddy.” Sokka said gently, reaching out and lightly placing his hand on the man’s shoulder. 

The contact seemed to pull him from his strange trance, and he startled, scrambling backwards. 

Sokka dropped his weapon, quickly holding up his hands. “Hey, we aren’t going to hurt you.” 

Sokka didn’t need Toph to tell him the man was shaking, Sokka glared at the others. After a moment’s hesitation, Katara returned her water to her pouch, and the other two relaxed their stances. 

“See?” Sokka tried to look encouraging. “I promise, we’re not here to hurt you.” 

The man rose shakily, his deep green clothes streaked with grey, but didn’t come any closer. Sokka couldn’t blame him for being sceptical. 

Sokka paused for a moment, then drew a knife from his belt, “here,” he held it up, “if it makes you feel any better you can have this.” He tossed the knife to the man, who caught it with ease. “I’m Sokka. This is Katara, Toph and Aang.” 

The man turned the weapon over in his hand, it was a standard, water tribe weapon, Sokka hardly used it, so if it made the guy feel safer, he really didn’t mind. The man paused his examination of the weapon and looked at them, for a moment, Sokka wasn’t sure if he was going to bolt or attack them. 

Then he spoke, “I’m Lee.” His voice caught a little in his throat. 

Sokka grinned, “we have a flying bison, if you need a ride?” Sokka paused looking around the valley, he still wasn’t convinced the guy was from here, but curiosity (and a little concern) had overtaken him. 

Lee paused, considering, then nodded.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Words I can spell: avalanche. Words I can't spell: saddle. 
> 
> It's too hot to do anything so I wrote this chapter. I haven't edited it (blame the heat), so apologies for any spelling/grammar errors.  
> Also, I should probably say that this starts mid way through season two (you can probably tell this is based off the chase episode), and will follow some of the plot from the show, but not all of it.

For the few days he’d been with the group, Zuko hadn’t spoken a word. It wasn’t like the group had ignored him, initially they’d tried to persuade him to eat with them, talk with them, or even sit with them, but at every offer Zuko had shook his head, eventually they stopped asking. For a short while, Zuko had entertained the idea of joining them, it would distract him, he’d quickly abandoned the idea. Too often his thoughts strayed back to the village. The air thick with ash. It caught in his hair and throat and eyes. Zuko could smell it.

He shook his head, inhaling sharply. It didn’t help to dwell on it. It hurt to dwell on it. Except it was impossible to ignore it. His body seemed filled with rage and grief and hurt, all fuelling each other, twisting through his veins, fuelling him in a way that blood or air should.

A part of him was grateful the others were ignoring him, part of him longed for someone to talk to. He could tell they wanted to question him; their curious glances were impossible to ignore. He couldn’t blame them for being curious, they’d found him in the ruins of a village, for all they knew he was responsible. The thought sent a wave of guilt through him, if he’d arrived sooner. He cut off the thought, refusing to let himself fall back into the tangle of guilt and grief. Each time he allowed himself to dwell on it it seemed to grow, eventually it would crush him.

He allowed himself to be pulled from his thoughts by the others conversation, they were sat a little way away from him around a fire, he could feel the warmth of it on his back and for a moment his thoughts strayed to his home, and it _hurt_. He quickly realised they were discussing him, again, he couldn’t deny his curiosity, so he listened.

“I don’t know Aang, you really think we can trust him?” The older girl, Katara he reminded himself, said.

“He just seems,” Aang paused for a moment, as if searching for the right word, “ _lost_.”

Zuko almost laughed. How could he be lost if he had no idea where he was headed? He remembered when he’d thought that his destiny had been to rule the fire nation, he’d been naïve.

“Besides,” he heard the other boy say, Sokka, he thought, “if he wanted to attack us he would’ve by now.”

Katara’s hum of uncertainty was lost to the fire.

Toph spoke, “well.” She broke off, there was silence for a moment.

Dread hammered at Zuko’s thoughts, what if she knew? He knew, logically, there was no way for her to know, but his thoughts weren’t listening to logic.

She spoke, “there’s something coming.”

“What is it?” Katara asked.

Toph paused, and when she spoke there was uncertainty in her voice, “it feels like an avalanche. But metal.”

“What?”

“I’m not sure!” She sounded frustrated, “but it’s heading this way and fast.”

“Lee!” He jumped at the sound of Sokka’s voice and turned to face him.

“We need to go.” Sokka said, Zuko was a little shocked at how easily Sokka switched from seeming so young, to being a leader. He was good at leading, Zuko thought.

It took moments for them to pack up their things and be in the air, it was clearly a process they’d had to get good at. Zuko supposed it made sense, despite their understandable reluctance to tell him, Zuko had eyes, and he knew what Aang’s tattoos were, and therefore knew what they meant. It made sense that the avatar and his friends would have to move around fast, wherever they were going they probably needed to get there fast, and avoid detection. A part of him wondered where they were going, but a much larger part didn’t care. He was staying out of the war, he didn’t need to know anything about the avatar, and he didn’t care.

Next to him, Sokka let out a small gasp of awe, “that’s definitely not an avalanche.”

Unable to deny his curiosity, Zuko peered over the edge of the saddle. Below them, a black machine rumble through the earth, the way it moved reminded Zuko of an insect, odd and a little disjointed, he shivered.

Before he could stop himself, he said, “it’s fire nation.”

The others looked at him in shock. He almost cursed, he wasn’t meant to speak, let alone demonstrate knowledge of fire nation weapons he had no reason to have.

Seemingly the first to recover, Sokka nodded slowly, “are you sure?”

It was pointless lying, so Zuko nodded, “you can tell from the metal work.”

Sokka nodded again, and looked at the others.

“It could be Zhao?” Katara suggested, though she didn’t sound convinced.

Sokka shook his head, “it’s unlikely, we haven’t seen him since the attack on the northern water tribe, it doesn’t make sense for him to suddenly reappear.”

Katara nodded in agreement.

Toph grinned, she looked like a threat, “then I guess our only choice is to stop and greet them.”

Zuko wanted to say that, no, that really wasn’t their only choice, but kept it to himself. This wasn’t his problem.

Katara shook her head, “no. We have no idea who it is, we should keep flying and try to lose them.”

Toph huffed, “you’re no fun.”

Katara glared.

From his seat on Appa’s head, Aang spoke up, “we can’t keep flying for long, Appa’s already tired.”

Sokka who’d been silent for several minutes spoke, “can Appa get to those mountains?”

Aang nodded.

Sokka looked a little happier, “if we can get to those mountains, they should have a hard time tracking us, and Appa can rest for a while.”

Despite it’s simplicity, a plan seemed to calm the group, and the silence that fell over them was more comfortable than anticipating. And yet Zuko couldn’t stop his thoughts from straying back to the fire nation vehicle beneath them, he had managed to stay away from the war for so long, he didn’t want it to end. A little voice in his head pointed out that that had ended when the fire nation had burnt down the village he had helped, but he ignored it. He would stay with the Avatar and his friends until they reached somewhere with a road, and then he would leave.

After several minutes, they landed on the flattest part of the small mountain, rocks rose up around them, obscuring them from view. They were high up, and hidden, it was a good hiding place. As they climbed off Appa, and began to set up camp, a task Zuko had been roped into helping with, he was beginning to feel confident that Sokka’s plan would work.

“Guys.” They all looked at Toph, seemingly anticipating the news, but not willing to accept it, “it’s back.”

Sokka groaned, glancing longingly at his sleeping bag.

“Are you sure?” Katara asked.

“Yes!” Toph snapped.

“Well-” 

Sokka held up his hand, “shush. We need to keep moving, and I’m not awake enough to listen to you argue.”

The girls continued to glare at each other, but didn’t say anything else.

Aang looked hesitant, “I’m not sure how much further Appa can go.”

Seemingly addressing the bison, Sokka said, “just a little further, buddy.”

The bison roared, and Zuko jumped.

Moments later they were in the sky again, Zuko was tired, and knew that if he was tired, the others must be exhausted. Whilst he was used to exhaustion, it was clear that the others weren’t. Despite their silence, Toph and Katara kept shooting each other progressively dirtier looks, as if waiting for the other to snap and say something first. Sokka just got quieter and quieter, until he simply stared over the side of the saddle, watching the machine pursue them. In his seat on Appa’s head, Aang seemed close to simply passing out from exhaustion. 

As the night went on, Zuko lost count of how many times they’d landed, and set up camp only to be forced to take off again. At some point they’d been forced to leave their supplies, as Toph had yelled out a warning only moments before the machine had crashed into their campsite. The near miss had sparked another argument between Toph and Katara, which Zuko had done his best to ignore.

As dawn approached, Zuko was considering whether it would simply be easier to let the fire nation take them, when Sokka let out a cry of glee.

Before Katara, or Toph could yell at him for the sudden noise, he said, “I know how they’re following us!”

When no one indulged him by asking how, he grumbled a little, then said, “Appa. Well Appa’s fur. His shedding is leaving a trail for them to follow.”

Katara nodded slowly, her tiredness still apparent, but with a solution so near she seemed newly energized, “so what do we do?”

Sokka grinned, “we leave a trail.”

As Aang landed Appa in a clearing, Sokka explained his plan, `it was simple once he’d pointed it out, like so many of Sokka’s plans seemed to be. They would simply gather as much of Appa’s fur as they could, ensuring he didn’t leave a trail, then Aang would take the fur and create a new trail, leading their pursuers away, whilst the others flew Appa in the other direction. If all went well, they would wait a short while, then fly Appa back and join Aang in confronting their pursuers. A part of Zuko nagged that he shouldn’t be a part of this plan, but it was safer to remain with them, they were miles from any town or road. Besides, he didn’t know who was pursuing them. It was safer to remain with them. Practical.

The flight away from Aang was quiet, it would be easy to pin exhaustion as the answer, but Zuko knew it was concern. He wanted to reassure them that Aang was the avatar, that he would be fine, but then he’d have to explain how he knew Aang was the avatar, which would be _awkward_. So, he kept quiet.

They landed in a clearing a short distance from where Aang planned to lead their pursuers. If Zuko thought the flight had been tense, this was worse. The air was charged with anticipation, only fuelled by Sokka’s pacing. After what Zuko could only assume had been a few minutes, Sokka nodded tightly, and they climbed onto Appa again.

As they approached the deserted village, the first thing Zuko noticed was fire. There was too much fire. A village on fire. Zuko felt a little sick. He drew in a deep, shaking breath, and tried to occupy his mind by locating Aang. There was a little voice in his head that pointed out that the fire was blue, and that that was very, very bad. He ignored the little voice.

They landed, and instantly Zuko was filled with the need to run. Because the village was burning. And the fire was blue. And there was ash in his hair and his eyes and his throat. And all at once every emotion he’d done his best to ignore rose up. He could feel himself shaking. He wanted to punch something, to set something on fire. He wanted-

A laugh pulled him from his thoughts. He went very still. He’d wanted to stay away from the war.

“Hello, Zuzu. It’s been a while.”

Every emotion that had risen up in him dissipated. Only a cold dread remained. He could hear his heart pounding in his chest. The blood rushing in his ears. It was as if a sense of quiet anticipation had fallen over the world, the calm before the storm. Except there had never really been any calm.

“Aang we need to go!”

Suddenly, everything came rushing back. Aang running. Fire. Azula. _Azula_.

Then Aang landed on Appa’s back and they were in the air. The heat of Azula’s fire rushing past them as they rose.

Zuko felt numb. Thoughts bounced around his head like bullets. He had tried _so hard_ to stay away from the war. And yet the war always seemed to find him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! 
> 
> Also, thank you to everyone who left kudos/comments on the last chapter, it means the world to me!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Toph and Zuko friendship. That's it. 
> 
> Also, thank you so much for all the love this fic's been getting! It means a lot!

“Who are you?” Katara’s voice was sharp as a knife, “the truth this time.”

The flight away from the burning village had been filled with a charged, anxious energy, the focus on whether or not they’d make it out alive. There hadn’t been time to think of what the firebender had said, but now they had landed, curiosity and fear had come rushing back, and they wanted answers.

Lee, or whoever he was, took a step back. Sokka thought that was sensible. Whilst his fear seemed to feed his curiosity, at least for the moment, Katara’s fear seemed to feed her anger.

“And don’t try lying,” Toph said, a lump of rock was hovering in front of her, the implication very clear, “I’ll know.”

After several seconds, the heavy silence of the air was broken.

“My name is Zuko, of the fire nation.”

A stream of water surrounded Katara, pulsing like a vein, “why are you here?”

Zuko drew in a sharp breath, his face paling; this was clearly more information than he wanted to share. “I was banished.”

Aang, who had remained silent until now, spoke up, “are you here to hurt us?” He didn’t sound scared, or curious, the question was simply said with finality.

Zuko shook his head rapidly, then, seemingly for Toph’s sake, “no.” He said it with the same finality of Aang’s question, as if it was the only possible answer to the question.

His answer seemed to satisfy Aang, who nodded, and Toph, who dropped the rock. The answer satisfied Sokka too, despite the lie, Lee, _Zuko,_ Sokka reminded himself, didn’t seem to want to hurt them and had given them no reason to think he would. _Except_ , the little voice in his head reminded him, _you found him in the ruins of a village_. Sokka told the little voice in his head to shut up.

Katara wasn’t satisfied. She returned her water to it’s pouch, but continued to glare at Zuko. “Who was that woman, and why do you know her?”

Zuko sighed, it sounded more sad than frustrated, “that was Azula.”

“Fire Lord Ozai’s daughter.” Aang said, it was a statement, not a question.

Zuko nodded, he was clearly trying (and failing) to stop his shock showing.

Aang shrugged, “she told me.”

“And why,” Katara’s voice rose steadily, “does the _princess_ of the Fire Nation know you by name?”

“I’m a wanted criminal?” Zuko replied weakly, Sokka wasn’t sure if it was the truth, but it definitely didn’t seem like the right answer to the question. Zuko sighed, “we were,” he paused, as if searching for the right word, “trapped together for a while.”

“She captured you?”

Zuko hummed in response.

Katara huffed and looked at Toph, who shrugged in response, “he _is_ telling the truth.”

Katara sighed, “fine. We can trust him.” Sokka saw Zuko relax, “ _but_ ,” Katara continued, “if he steps out of line, he won’t need to worry about Azula or the Fire Nation.” She spun on her heel and walked away, leaving the threat hanging heavy in the air.

**…**

Zuko wasn’t exactly angry, he understood Katara’s actions, it was the tactical choice, the choice that’d keep them alive. He didn’t regret lying to them, that had also been a tactical choice, one to keep him alive, but he understood her reasoning. He sighed, rubbing his forehead with the palm of his hand, really, he thought, he was tired. Tired of running, tired of fighting to survive.

As he stomped away from the group, it occurred to him that he had no idea where he was going. He sighed again, flopping down against a tree, he was far enough away that the others wouldn’t find him, though he doubted he’d come looking.

Just as he was beginning to let the quiet calm him, he heard footsteps approaching. He leaped up, preparing for a fight.

“Whoa! Hold up! It’s just me.”

He dropped his arms, sitting down again, “Toph?”

She grinned and sat down next to him. “Yup.”

“How did you find me?”

She wiggled her toes at him, he stared at her in confusion, before remembering that she couldn’t see him. “I see through my feet,” she told him proudly, “it was incredibly easy to find you.”

“Did it occur to you that I didn’t want finding?” He said gruffly.

“It did.” It was clear that meant she didn’t care.

He sighed, letting his head fall back against the tree trunk. Then, after a long pause, asked a question that’d been bugging him, “why didn’t you tell the others I was lying?”

“What?”

“When we first met, and I lied about my name.”

She shrugged, “I figured you’d have a good reason.”

A gentle quiet fell over them, then Zuko smiled, “thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” She said cheerfully, punching him in the arm.

“Ow!”

“It’s how I show affection.” She grinned.

**…**

When Zuko reappeared, Sokka was hunched over a map, he wasn’t really sure where the other boy had been, so when he sat down opposite him Sokka sent him a curious look. Zuko either didn’t notice the look (unlikely) or ignored him (more likely), so Sokka grinned at him and asked, “where do you want to go on vacation?”

Zuko blinked at him in confusion. 

Ignoring his uncertainty, Sokka continued, “Aang says that he deserves a vacation because of all the effort he’s putting into earth bending training.” He looked down at the map, looking for _any_ prospective vacation spots, “Even if earth bending training is just Toph throwing rocks at him.” He wondered if the last comment had made Zuko smile, because, he realised, he hadn’t seen Zuko smile. And, obviously, he was hilarious.

Zuko continued to stare at him in disbelief.

“Come on dude, you must’ve been on vacation?”

After several seconds, Zuko nodded. Which was a response, so Sokka counted it as a win.

When it became obvious Zuko wasn’t about to offer up any more information, Sokka spoke, “where did you go?”

Zuko raised his eyebrow, “places in the Fire Nation.”

Sokka sighed, it hadn’t occurred to him that the guy from the Fire Nation, went on vacation in the _Fire Nation_ , “unfortunately, the Fire Nation isn’t really an option.”

Zuko almost smiled, “not really, no.” He agreed.

“Anywhere you want to go?” Sokka stared down at the map, sure, it would be easy to randomly point and pick a location, but that could be anywhere, and despite his belief that a vacation was pointless, he wanted it to be good. “I’m getting a little desperate.”

Zuko shook his head, “I’ve never really thought about it.”

Sokka let out a frustrated sigh, flopping back onto the floor. The sun was beginning to set, painting the sky in deep oranges and purples, swathes of red cut through it, outlining the sun. “It’s really beautiful.” He hadn’t meant to say it aloud, and he hoped that Zuko hadn’t heard him.

There was a pause, and Sokka thought Zuko hadn’t heard him.

“Yes.” He heard Zuko say. “Though I prefer the sunrise.”

“If I see the sunrise my only thought is that I shouldn’t be awake.”

Zuko laughed softly, “firebenders rise with the sun.”

“Oh.” Sokka said, matching Zuko’s quiet tone, he wasn’t sure how to respond, everything he knew about firebenders was because of the war, and therefore about it. Yet there was nothing militaristic or violent about the fact, it was oddly human, knowledge he’d never expected to know about firebenders.

“You could ask Aang.”

“What?” Sokka sat up, looking at Zuko.

“About where he wants to go.”

Sokka hummed in response, “I guess asking him would be like admitting defeat, you know? I want to prove to him that I can pick a good vacation spot, that he’ll enjoy.” Sokka expected Zuko to laugh, it was a stupid reason and he knew it, but that didn’t stop it being true.

“Then just pick somewhere. Aang trusts you to choose, that’s why he asked.”

Sokka paused for a minute, taking in Zuko’s words, then he nodded.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my brain whilst writing this: what if you made the spirits creepy for no reason? 
> 
> anyways, this chapter is double the usual lenght, so enjoy! 
> 
> thank you so much for reading/commenting/kudo-ing (let's pretend that's a word), it means a lot!!

“Come on, Zuko!” Aang whined, bouncing up and down next to him, “no one’s going to recognise you, you can take off the hood.”

Zuko ignored him. He was perfectly happy not getting captured and killed, thank you very much.

Katara let out an exasperated sigh, “if you keep it on, you’ll probably pass out.”

Zuko didn’t remove the hood, if he had to choose between passing out and getting captured by Azula he would definitely prefer the former.

As soon as they had arrived at the Misty Palms Oasis, Zuko had pulled up his hood, which had sparked an argument that had (so far) lasted almost ten minutes. Zuko had quickly realised that the group cared very little for their own safety, which was fine, he really didn’t care, but he wasn’t about to let their disregard of safety get him killed, so he had stubbornly kept the hood pulled up.

The Misty Palms Oasis was unimpressive, to put it lightly. From Aang’s constant chatter on the way there, Zuko had come to the conclusion that it was a nice place, probably full of tourists, but nice. It was neither of those things. For a start, it wasn’t nice, the buildings were rundown, smoothed by time and dirtied by sand, and the famous ice spring was little more than a glorified puddle. There was also the fact that it seemed to be populated, almost entirely, by bounty hunters and criminals, which worried Zuko considerably more than a few rundown buildings.

So, when Sokka suggested that they go inside, Zuko could’ve screamed.

The building was busy, but not enough that they were unnoticed, unconsciously Zuko’s hand twitched to the knife in his belt that Sokka had given him. Several heads turned towards them, Zuko held his breath, then they looked away. Zuko whispered a quiet thanks to Agni.

There was a clatter, and Zuko turned his head towards the noise. Aang had just crashed into a man, Zuko let out a breath, that was fine, they could just apologise and move on.

Cheerful as ever, Aang was saying, “don’t worry, I clean up easy!” Then, with a feat that was very clearly airbending, he dried himself.

Zuko wanted to scream. Again.

“You’re an airbender!” The man said, already pulling out a journal.

Aang nodded, “yep!”

As the man began to ask a long list of questions, which Aang answered as best he could. 

Despite having heard that Aang was an airbender (and so the Avatar), the patrons of the bar were ignoring them. Which, Zuko supposed, was a good thing, but it put him on edge. Zuko knew with certainty that there was a bounty out for the Avatar, though there was a slim chance that word hadn’t reached somewhere so remote, it was unlikely, the Fire Nation was thorough. And if he was found traveling with the Avatar- Zuko cut off the train of thought, resting his hand on the handle of the knife. It was some comfort, but Zuko missed his swords.

He was pulled from his thoughts by Sokka’s voice.

“Aang,” he began, grinning, “I would like to take my vacation at the library!”

**…**

That was how they ended up flying low over the desert, in search of an ancient spirit library that _probably_ existed. Zuko was sceptical, it wasn’t that he doubted the library’s existence, in fact he was perfectly happy to accept that it did exist, he was almost certain that his uncle had once told him a story of such a place, it was that it was almost definitely lost. Whether to time or the shifting sands of the desert, or simply the spirits getting bored and leaving to do other things, but the chances of it still being there was incredibly small. 

Yet, despite his certainty that the library was lost, he found himself getting excited. Sokka’s excitement and certainty was infectious, spreading between the group like an illness. So when Sokka cried out in joy, he found himself staring over the side of Appa’s saddle expectantly.

“What is it?” Toph asked, she was the only one who hadn’t rushed to the edge of the saddle, and instead was sat with her back pressed against the opposite side.

“A spire, of some sort.” Katara said, she sounded a little unsure.

Toph opened her mouth, probably to reply with something cutting, but Sokka interrupted.

“No,” his voice was quiet, only a little more certain than Katara’s, “I think it’s the library. Look,” He held up the drawing of the library the Professor had given him, Zuko peered over Katara’s shoulder for a better look, “that’s the tower.” He ran his finger along the tallest spire, then pointed at the spire in front of them.

Zuko sat back, closer to Toph.

“Is it?” She asked quietly.

“Yeah. But there’s a small problem.”

Toph looked at him questioningly, but before he could reply, Katara cut him off.

“The library’s buried.”

Aang landed Appa a short distance from the library and the group descended, standing in a huddle, staring up at the spire. The excitement that had buzzed through the air only minutes prior was quickly dissipating, replaced by disappointment.

“Are we sure this is the library?” Aang said, sounding hopeful.

Sokka nodded glumly, “you saw the picture, it has to be here.”

“Look!” The professor pointed at what _looked_ like a fox, “a knowledge seeker! This has to be the library.”

The knowledge seeker seemed to decide that now was a good time to prove that it definitely wasn’t a fox, it walked up to the base of the tower and continued walking up it. It wasn’t climbing, as Zuko expected things to climb, or even floating, which would’ve been less odd, instead it simply walked up the side of the tower, as if gravity had shifted, tying it to a different ground. Zuko watched in awe, there was now no denying that this was the spirit library.

Toph was the first to move, she walked towards the spire, laying her hand on it, and closing her eyes. After several seconds, she announced, “it isn’t buried. The inside’s empty.”

Sokka nodded, Zuko could see his brain working to come up with a plan, “we’ll climb in through the window, Aang can get up first and let down a rope for the rest of us to climb.”

“Nope.” Toph was shaking her head firmly.

“Excuse me?”

“What’s the point? I’m blind.” She waved her hand in front of her eyes, to demonstrate her point.

“Oh right.” Sokka paused, rubbing his neck, “sorry.”

Toph shrugged, “don’t worry about it, I can stay out here with Appa.”

“Thanks, Toph,” Aang grinned, “I’m sure Appa appreciates it.”

Appa roared in what Zuko assumed was agreement.

Climbing into the library was surprisingly easy, though Zuko was very glad he wasn’t scared of heights. The library was beautiful, in the way all old buildings were beautiful, it had seen the passage of time and was still standing, it was powerful, but unearthly (though Zuko supposed that could be because it was built by spirits). And, though Zuko would refuse to say it out loud, it was unsettling. The tower rose above them, and below them was darkness, they simply stood, suspended between the two. Zuko couldn’t help but feel trapped, as if the world around them could go on changing and they would never know, they would simply stand there, suspended.

An unearthly shriek pierced the darkness.

Zuko was already running for cover, when Katara hissed, “hide!”

Stood behind a bookshelf, Zuko steadied his breathing, and peered out at the creature that now dominated the walkway. If he had been forced to describe it, Zuko would’ve called it an owl, because that was the thing that looked most similar to it, but the thing was very clearly not an owl. It’s size was enough to indicate that it definitely was not an owl, it perched on the walkway in such a way that made Zuko worry it would break, it’s massive wings tucked neatly at it’s sides. There was also the fact it looked _wrong_. At first Zuko wasn’t sure why it looked wrong, just that it did. It was wrong in the same way the fox had been when it’d walked up the side of the tower, as if the rules of the world had been explained very quickly to a child who had then drawn the first thing they’d thought of. It was too black, Zuko noticed; it was black like ink, not feathers or fur, the black didn’t move or change in the light, instead it was solid, like a drawing plucked from a page and planted in reality. Its face was like a drawing too, too white to be natural, painted on like a mask. Then, Zuko realised what was so wrong about it. It had no shadow. He shivered, stepping away from it.

The professor either didn’t notice the wrongness, or simply didn’t care, as he stepped out cheerfully from behind another bookshelf.

“Great knowledge spirit,” the professor began, walking towards the spirt, “I come hoping to learn from your library.”

“Then why do you come deceiving me?” The spirit stretched its wings, and Zuko took another step back.

“I do not wish to deceive you great spirit!” The professor sounded panicked.

“There are others with you.” It wasn’t a question, “why do they hide?”

Aang stepped out from behind the bookshelf, and, after a nudge from Katara, Zuko followed.

“We come seeking knowledge.” Aang said cheerfully.

Zuko decided that he was no longer interested in knowledge, and instead was much more interested in the fastest way out.

The spirit hummed, which was a noise that sounded wrong coming from an owl, “I am Wan Shi Tong, knower of ten thousand things, and I require proof that you are worthy of gaining my knowledge. You must each share a new piece of knowledge with me.”

The professor went first, presenting a leather-bound book, Wan Shi Tong made a noise of approval, “first addition, very nice.” The professor then retreated back to the bookshelves to browse the library.

Katara presented a waterbending scroll, which the owl accepted happily. Aang presented a wanted poster of himself, looking very pleased. The owl accepted sceptically. Beside him, Sokka working on a complicated looking knot, when it was his turn, he presented it to the spirit triumphantly. The spirit muttered a little, but accepted.

By the time it was his turn, Zuko was beginning to panic a little, he had no new knowledge, no knowledge even. He pulled out a map of the Fire Nation, he would have to hope the spirit didn’t have one. 

He presented it to Wan Shi Tong, who hummed thoughtfully, Zuko held his breath.

Eventually the spirit spoke, “I suppose it is fitting for a firebender to present knowledge on the Fire Nation.”

Zuko froze, “how do you know?” His voice was quiet, but it didn’t shake.

The spirit laughed; the noise made want to Zuko flinch away from it. “I am Wan Shi Tong. I know many things about you Zuko, son of-”

Zuko cut him off, “not anymore.”

“No,” the spirit replied, “I suppose not.” It looked at the others, “you may view my knowledge, but, if I find you intend to use it for violence.” The spirit didn’t need to finish the threat. 

Aang and Katara quickly became absorbed reading facts about Aang’s past lives, excitedly sharing them with each other. Sokka, it seemed, was doing his best to ignore them. He was picking out books at random, flicking through them, then, with a frustrated groan, returning them to the shelf. Zuko stood back, watching, he wasn’t really sure what they were looking for, besides information on the Fire Nation, in fact, he wasn’t really sure that Sokka knew what they were looking for.

As Sokka replaced another book with a little more force than was necessary, Zuko walked over to him.

“What exactly are you looking for?” Zuko asked.

Sokka shrugged, “anything that can give us a clue to defeating the Fire Nation.” He looked at Zuko hesitantly, “I don’t suppose you know anything.”

“Not anything useful. I’ve been gone three years.”

Sokka sighed, “I thought so.”

“Sorry.” Zuko muttered, he knew the Avatar was preparing to fight his father, and though there was a little part of him that nagged that he should be helping his father, that he was disloyal for not doing so, that part was easy to ignore, but there was a much larger part that simply didn’t know how he felt about the Avatar preparing to invade his nation. He knew what the armies where doing was wrong, knew that the current system had to change, knew that his father needed to lose his power, but despite all that, it was still home. And, though he did his best to ignore it, he missed it.

Sokka smiled good naturedly, “don’t worry, buddy.”

Then he wandered off again, walking down the rows of books, occasionally pulling one off then replacing it. Zuko supposed he should make himself useful, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so, the thought of home had caught him unaware, and left him feeling off. Instead, he stood still, watching Sokka make his way down the aisle of books. Suddenly, Sokka stopped, letting out a noise of accomplishment.

As Zuko grew closer, it became apparent that Sokka had stopped in front of a display case, beneath its glass lay a charred piece of parchment.

Sokka grinned at Zuko, and pulled out his boomerang, “don’t tell the owl.”

Before Zuko could ask what Sokka was to do, he placed the boomerang under the edge of the glass, levering it up and pulling out the parchment. He grinned at Zuko again, putting the parchment down so they both could see it.

“The darkest day in Fire Nation history.” Sokka read, he looked at Zuko, hope was beginning to creep into his feature, “do you know what it means?”

Zuko shook his head, he doubted the Fire Nation would share any of its weaknesses publicly.

“There’s a date.” Sokka’s voice was quiet as he read.

“What is it?”

Zuko startled at the sound of Katara’s voice, and turned to face them.

Sokka held out the paper to them, “I found this, but it doesn’t tell us anything! Only that something bad happened on this day.”

They all turned, behind them was a knowledge seeker, it had made no noise, simply appeared and they had known. Zuko shivered.

The spirit inclined its head.

“You want us to follow you?” Sokka said slowly.

The spirit started moving, they followed. The knowledge seeker moved like a fox moved, which just made it more obvious that it wasn’t a fox, it was in every way different from Wan Shi Tong; instead of looking like a drawing made real, a poor imitation of non-spirit life, it looked too real. It’s eyes too bright, it’s fur too soft, even the way it moved was so similar to the way a fox, or any non-spirit creature, moved that it was obvious this creature was simply imitating it. Like the owl spirit, it felt wrong.

Eventually, the knowledge seeker stopped. It had led them to a domed room, filled with mechanical beams and rods. The room was dark, the only light filtering in from the door they had entered through. Dust danced in the light, the room was clearly old, and beautiful in a way the rest of the library was not. It was not an imposing or powerful beauty, instead it was gentle and interesting, the kind of beauty that asked you to sit and admire it, rather than demanded. Zuko would’ve been happy to sit and admire it.

Behind him, Sokka thanked the spirit, which turned and left, like when it had appeared, Zuko was simply aware it had left.

They gathered around the machine in the centre of the room.

“I think we need to put the date in.” Aang said. Sokka nodded in agreement.

As Sokka read the date aloud, Aang span the dials to the correct places, then Sokka nodded again, and Aang pulled the lever.

The ceiling began to move. The copper beams moved across the ceiling, and with them, the sun, and the moon. Zuko watched as days changed to nights, the ceiling darkening and lightening over and over again, he supposed there was some mechanical thing which made it work, but as he watched it, he wanted to call it magic.

Eventually, the beams halted with a heavy thud.

“The sun’s gone.” Aang breathed.

“A solar eclipse.” Zuko replied, his voice just as quiet, “firebenders lose their bending.” He read of such a thing, whispered rumours in dusty books, but had never believed them, growing up he had thought the Fire Nation was invincible. Maybe not, he realised.

Sokka let out a shaky breath, “this could be our chance. If the firebenders lose their bending, the Fire Nation would be vulnerable.”

Katara laughed quietly, as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing, but hoped so much that it was true.

“Humans are so very predictable.”

They turned. In the doorway was Wan Shi Tong, its expression hadn’t changed, but Zuko knew it was angry. 

“All you want to know is how to win your wars.”

“But the Fire Nation is evil!” Sokka protested, “they’ve killed thousands of people, we need a way to defeat them.”

“Evil is such a human concept,” the owl said quietly, almost to itself, “you will not use my knowledge for war.”

“Please!” Aang began.

The spirit shrieked. Zuko flinched back. Its neck extended towards them, like it was being pulled apart. Zuko ran.

Zuko skidded under the owl’s wing, following Katara and Aang back the way they had come. He heard Sokka behind him, and behind Sokka he could hear the spirit, its wings crashing into shelves as it followed them. He didn’t know where they were going, only that it was away from the owl. He heard Sokka swear behind him, and looked over his shoulder to check he was still running.

“What the fuck?” Sokka said conversationally.

“Spirits.” Zuko shrugged, a little out of breath.

When Katara pulled him behind a bookshelf, he went willingly, and collapsed down next to her, panting quietly.

“We need to go.” She said, her voice hushed so as not to alert the owl of their hiding place.

Sokka shook his head, “we need to find out when the next solar eclipse will happen.”

“It’s too dangerous.” Katara hissed.

“We might not get another chance like this.”

Katara was silent for a moment, then sighed, “fine. Aang and I will distract Wan Shi Tong, you and Zuko find out when the next solar eclipse will take place.”

Sokka nodded, “distract the owl long enough for us to get to the room, then get out of here.”

“We’re not leaving you.” Katara said, her voice firm.

Sokka glared, then replied softly, “alright. Don’t get killed.” 

Katara grinned at her brother, then disappeared from behind the bookshelf, Aang followed. Aang yelled something, and the owl shrieked in reply.

Wincing at the noise, Sokka nodded.

The room was still intact when they returned, and Sokka nodded at Zuko. As Sokka changed the dates, Zuko pulled the lever, above them the sky moved. When he had first seen it, Zuko had been mesmerised, now all he felt was the steady weight of panic that grew each time the date wasn’t a solar eclipse. Occasionally, Sokka cursed because, _they were running out of time._ The commotion outside the room was dulled, but occasionally there would be a crash that split the air, and each time Sokka moved faster, as the worried look on his face grew.

At last, _at last_ , the sun hid the moon. There was none of the triumph Zuko had thought he would feel, but an ever-growing urge to leave. Sokka quickly scribbled down the date, shoving the paper into his tunic.

“Let’s go.”

They ran out of the room and towards the noise of the fight. As they grew closer, the damage became more apparent, books littered the floor, forced open, their pages loose like a dead creature that had been torn apart. Several shelves were toppled, and they had to climb across one to get to the walkway.

Another shriek filled the room, as Wan Shi Tong descended towards them, its neck extended in a way that couldn’t be natural. Without thinking, Zuko sent up blast of fire, it arched above them, hot and orange, and the spirit hissed and swerved away. Zuko allowed himself a moment to feel the heat firebending had sent through him, it had been months since he’d used his bending, especially for something so powerful, he’d missed it, he realised.

The spirit was circling again, preparing for another attack.

“We need to go!” Sokka yelled.

The spirit landed. “I’m sorry, but I can’t let that happen.” Zuko didn’t think it sounded sorry. Then the spirit began to flap its wings.

“What’s it doing?” Aang yelled.

Suddenly, the ground shifted beneath Zuko who wildly grabbed at the railing beside him.

“The library’s sinking!” Katara yelled.

Sokka cursed, running towards the rope. Zuko followed him, doing his best to stay away from the owl.

Above him, Sokka grabbed the rope, and began to climb. Zuko waited a few seconds, anxiously glancing at Wan Shi Tong, who seemed to be ignoring them in favour of sinking the library, then began to climb.

Above them, Aang flew out of the library, carrying Katara.   
  
  


Zuko heard Sokka let out a breath of relief.

Seconds later the owl shrieked. It flew at them, its neck extended like an incredibly sinister toy. Sokka screamed, as the owl flew into the rope just above him. The rope snapped.

Zuko didn’t have time to scream. One moment he was fine, and the next he was falling.

A hand grabbed him.

He looked up to see Sokka grinning at him, holding onto Aang.

Aang flew upwards, dodging Wan Shi Tong as he went.

Seconds later, they were outside, Zuko let out a shaky breath. He was staring up at the pale blue sky, the sand was harsh against his skin, but he was alive. He let out another, steadier, breath. He heard Sokka asking about the professor, and Katara saying he’d refused to leave, her voice was quiet, tinged with regret.

Zuko sat up, looking at the others.

Sokka offered him a hand, and Zuko allowed himself to be pulled up.

“We need to get this information to the Earth King.” 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi!  
> so sorry for disappearing for a while, school started again and that, along with a viola exam, has kept me pretty busy. i'm starting to get into the routine of it now, so i'll be updating more regularly now. also, i've properly planned out the chapters, and we're looking at about 30 chapters, so i hope you stick around! 
> 
> thank you so much for being patient, this chapter doesn't have much plot-wise (that's the next one), but it does have lots of zukka, so enjoy!
> 
> also!! possible tw for a panic attack, not very heavily described, but please be aware.

Despite the late hour, it was still warm, and Zuko found himself grateful for the last of the sun that shone on his back. He was also grateful for the quiet; ever since they’d arrived in the Earth Kingdom villaDge the weather had been still and calm, Aang, however, had not. Ever since learning that Zuko was a firebender, he been pestering Zuko to teach him, to which Zuko had stubbornly declined, eventually, Toph had dragged him away to practice earthbending and Zuko had done his best to disappear.

Sitting atop the hill, looking down at the village, reminded him painfully of the ruined village. It was the same view as when he’d first seen it, there had been nothing special about it, just another village to lay low in for a while. He remembered idly thinking that it would be the tactical place to launch an invasion from, which had made him angry, though he wasn’t sure if it was at his father, for making him think in such a way, or at himself, for thinking it. He let out a noise of frustration, curling his hand into a fist, ignoring the smoke that curled from it.

He took a deep breath. It shuddered a little, but the smoke receded. 

He closed his eyes, steadying his breathing, it always reminded him of when his uncle had visited and taught him breathing exercises. Thinking about his uncle hurt, in the same was thinking about his mother did, though he took a little comfort in knowing (assuming) he was alive. Thinking about him was complicated, in the same was thinking about home was, he missed him, but tangled around missing him were so many other emotions. He was angry at uncle, which only made the anger worse; he shouldn’t be angry at uncle, it wasn’t uncle’s fault he’d been banished. (Uncle didn’t even try to look for him.)

He squeezed his eyes shut, pressing his head into his knees. The sun on his back was no longer a comfort. It pinned him down. A spotlight. A warning. Fire. _Fire_. He could smell it. Ashes. They hung in the air, clawed at his throat. He let out a choking gasp. Ashes. In his throat. His lungs. He couldn’t breathe. _He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t-  
_

“Hey.”

Sokka’s voice broke through the ashes.

Sokka was fine. There were no ashes. He could breathe.

He took a careful breath. Smells of cooking were carried on the breeze, spices that reminded him of home.

He took another breathe, looking up at Sokka.

Sokka was smiling at him, not a pity smile, as if Zuko might break if he did anything else, instead a more genuine thing, the sort of smile that made his eyes shine. A few strands of his hair had gotten loose during the day, and now floated around his head, illuminated by the sun behind him.

Zuko looked down at the valley, suddenly aware of Sokka’s eyes on him.

They sat there for a while. Watching the valley, and each other, as the sun sank lower in the sky. Sokka didn’t ask if he was okay, instead simply sat, waiting for Zuko to move. Zuko was glad for the quiet, glad that Sokka knew enough not to ask.

Eventually, Zuko rose. Sokka followed suit, falling into step besides Zuko as they made their way down the hillside. After several minutes of quiet, Sokka began to talk, just quiet chatter about his home, his sister, his family, things Zuko had no reason to care about. Except that it was nice, and Zuko that did care.

“When we were little, Katara would try to use her bending to do everything. Which didn’t work, ‘cos she was terrible, being six and all.”

Zuko laughed softly.

Sokka stopped talking.

Zuko looked at him, scared he’d done something wrong, “what?”

Sokka shook his head, “nothing. It’s just, I think that’s the first time I’ve seen you properly smile.”

Suddenly the ground was very interesting to Zuko.

Sokka was quiet for a few moments, then he said, “we’re going into the village tonight to get dinner, you want to come?”

Zuko decided that not a single one of them had any regard for their own wellbeing. “That’s a terrible idea, you’ll get spotted.”

Sokka huffed, “no we won’t. Besides, we need to eat. So, are you coming?”

Zuko raised his eyebrow, “will the others want me there?” By others he meant Katara.

Sokka shrugged, “doesn’t matter. You need to eat, they can’t complain.”

Zuko sighed, he couldn’t object to Sokka’s argument, he did need to eat. “Fine. But I’m wearing a hood.”

Sokka laughed, “I wouldn’t expect any less.”

**…**

The walk into the village was short, filled mainly with Toph and Sokka’s overly loud conversation. Which wouldn’t have been unpleasant, except for Katara stubbornly glaring ahead, and Aang looking between Zuko and Katara as if at any moment either one of them might explode.

Zuko wondered if firebenders could explode. He thought it would be less painful.

The sun was setting, draping the village in a soft, golden light, and despite the late hour, they passed several people walking down the street. Each time they passed someone, Zuko tugged his hood a little lower over his face, glancing nervously at the ground. Aang took a less strict approach to secrecy, doing little to hide his airbender clothing. Zuko was pretty sure he only wore a hat at Katara’s insistence. 

There was little reason for the route they took, the only thing guiding them being the smell of food. Earth Kingdom food often shared the rich spices of Fire Nation food, and this village seemed to be no exception; the smells that filled the air were dominated by it.

After a short walk through twisting streets, they arrived at what Zuko assumed served as both a town centre and a marketplace. There were more people here, talking loudly with one another as they searched the stalls for the product they were looking for. The whole scene seemed oddly normal, as if the village was safe in a bubble, unaffected by the war. As soon as he thought it, Zuko realised he was wrong; almost all the people were women, and those that were men were either very old or very young, the fresh fruit was all native to the Earth Kingdom. The village had been affected by the war; it was just that life went on.

Upon arriving, Sokka had quickly made his way to one of the food stalls and had begun negotiating prices with the woman. Zuko watched as he made several dramatic gestures, then paused, nodding politely as the woman handed him five skewers, then dropped several coins into the woman’s waiting palm.

Sokka presented the food, grinning triumphantly.

Aang opened his mouth to speak, but Sokka cut him off, “yes Aang, yours is vegetarian.”

Aang returned the grin, biting into his food enthusiastically, “thanks Sokka.” 

Zuko tentatively sniffed his skewer, then took a bite. It reminded him of Fire Nation food, the flavouring was perhaps a little different, but it was close enough that it could’ve been made in the Fire Nation. It reminded him, almost painfully, of his mother; of when she’d taken him and Azula to the market in Caldera City and they’d bought something at almost every stall, little trinkets and simple food, things they didn’t need, but had bought for the excuse of going out.

“We should look around the market!” Aang said, Zuko looked at him, ready to object, but the look on Aang’s face was impossible to say no to, so he simply shrugged.

Toph nodded, “come on, Katara, it’ll be fun!”

Katara looked like she was about to object, but before she could Toph grabbed her wrist and pulled her away.

As they disappeared into the sea of stalls, Sokka glanced at Zuko.

“They’ll probably be a while, so we may as well.” He gestured round wildly.

Zuko nodded.

Sokka nodded back, then began to walk down one of the aisles between the stalls.

Most of the stalls sported things like fruit or meat, food products that were probably obtained in the Earth Kingdom, and a few sold clothes or fabric. Zuko noticed that there weren’t any selling trinkets, though he supposed that a random Earth Kingdom village didn’t get many tourists. They made their way through the stalls in near silence, occasionally Sokka would stop to admire something that had caught his eye, commenting on it before moving on. There wasn’t much that caught Zuko’s attention, until they passed a stall selling weapons.

Zuko realised he’d glanced at it for far longer than he meant to, as Sokka asked if he wanted to stop and look, and Zuko, after a moment’s hesitation, nodded.

The stall hosted several weapons Zuko recognised, and a couple that he didn’t, though he assumed they were just less common Earth Kingdom weapons. When he’d spotted the stall, a little bubble of hope had risen up in him, and he’d done his best to ignore it; duel dao weren’t an uncommon weapon in the Earth Kingdom, but they were uncommon enough that he was unlikely to find them in a random market. After poking around for several minutes, he’d almost given up when he noticed them. The swords were neatly in their scabbard, almost hidden behind one of the stands. Zuko let out a little gasp of shock, leaving his dao had been a stupid mistake, and he’d missed them, these weren’t _his_ dao, but they were dao.

He turned to Sokka, who had appeared at his side, presumably due to his gasp, and asked, “how much money do we have?”

Sokka raised an eyebrow, “how much do you want to spend?”

Zuko blanked, realising he hadn’t asked for the price. It took several minutes for Zuko to find the stall’s owner, and ask her for the price, which he then relayed to Sokka nervously. It was expensive, he knew it was expensive, it was also unnecessary, and as Sokka was counting the money Zuko almost told him to stop, that buying the swords wasn’t important, but before he could, Sokka nodded, and handed him the money.

As they were making their way out of the market, the duel dao strapped to Zuko’s back, Sokka asked, “why do you need swords, y’know, with all the firebending?”

Zuko shrugged, he near enough trusted Sokka, but he didn’t think he was ready to explain that he was a terrible firebender, and therefor needed something to keep him from being killed, so he simply said, “I just like it, I guess.”

Sokka nodded, not pushing further for an answer. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to blame school for the fact it took me almost a month to write this (sorry!!) But thank you for all the support, your super nice comments keep me motivated! 
> 
> My notes for the next chapter are essentially just 'the gaang mess about in Ba Sing Se', so if you have any things you'd like to see please let me know! 
> 
> My tumblr is @friendlyneighbourhoodelf if you want to come and talk to me! 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!!

“Welcome,” Aang grinned, gesturing grandly, “to the great city of Ba Sing Se!”

A metallic shriek cut him off, wincing at the noise, Zuko peered over the edge of Appa’s saddle, trying to locate the source of the noise.

“What the hell was that?” Toph muttered, her voice firm.

A heavy silence settled in the air, occasionally pierced by the shriek of the machine. Zuko peered down again, the black machine below them continued to move forward, belching out black smoke in a trail behind it, from the machine's construction he was almost certain it was Fire Nation. At that realisation, Zuko’s thoughts became panicked, _the Fire Nation couldn’t invade Ba Sing Se, it was impossible. It had to be impossible,_ Zuko knew as well as anyone what would happen if Ba Sing Se fell. But instead of fear, his thoughts kept circling back to disbelief. _Invading Ba Sing Se was stupid, it was impossible. Unless,_

The realisation struck Zuko just as Sokka began to speak.

“It’s a drill.” Sokka’s voice was quiet in disbelief.

Katara’s face changed suddenly from confusion to horror, “no. They can’t invade Ba Sing Se.” Her voice was soft, Zuko wished he were reassured by the finality of it.

Aang looked at Katara in a way that could only be descried as full of love, “we’re not going to let them.”

Katara smiled at him, and Toph pretended to throw up.

“Not to be boring,” Toph said, “but the impending doom?”

“Right.” Aang nodded quickly, his face turning redder and redder. “We should find out if they want a hand.”

**...**

As it turned out, the General did not want assistance. At least until Mai and Ty Lee appeared and very quickly stopped the General’s men. Then the General was quite eager to accept the Avatar’s help.

**...**

Zuko stood by the doorway, watching Katara try to heal the General’s men, he kept catching snippets of their conversation, but it didn’t tell him anything new. Since seeing Mai and Ty Lee, he had been on edge, not really due to them being a harsh reminder of his past (though that didn’t help), but because he knew who they travelled with. Whilst they were formidable fighters, they didn’t worry Zuko. Azula did. She outmatched him, Zuko knew that, she knew that. If he was forced to face her, it would be a question of how long he could last, not who would win.

“You alright? You look like you’re brooding.”

Zuko startled at the sound of Sokka’s voice, then shook his head, “I’m fine.”

Sokka hummed, clearly disagreeing, but not arguing.

Zuko was silent for a few minutes, then said, “I was thinking about what would happen if Ba Sing Se were to fall.” Which was definitely a lie, but was still very much a cause of concern to him. 

Sokka hummed quietly, “I’m doing my best not to think about it.” His distant gaze was fixed on the opposite wall.

Zuko watched Sokka stare at the wall, letting the noise of the room wash over him. He watched as Aang rose from where he’d been kneeling next to Katara and made his way over to them.

“We should probably get moving.” He said, it was often easy to forget Aang was the Avatar, but it was moments like these, when his voice was heavy with gave certainty, that it was impossible.

“Don’t we need a plan?” Zuko once again wondered how they hadn’t ended up dead yet.

Aang grinned, his graveness quickly overtaken, “we’ll come up with something on the way.” 

It turned out that ‘we’ll come up with something on the way’ actually meant ‘we’ll come up with something on the way’. Even if the plan was messy and lacking in detail. Simply, the plan was to bring the drill down from the inside, for which, Sokka explained, he needed the drills schematics.

The inside of the drill was darker than Zuko had expected, a deep, red glow, emitting from some unknow light source cast long shadows across the metal floor. It worried Zuko a little that someone might see the four long shadows, Toph adamantly refused to come inside the drill, causing them to lose any advantage of surprise. Though, as Sokka had pointed out when Zuko had voiced this particular concern, they wanted someone to find them.

Despite their best efforts to run into someone, Aang had stomped down several corridors, and Sokka had sung (at least until Katara had punched him in the shoulder, making him shut up), the corridors remained surprisingly empty.

They had just reached a small room, filled with pipes, when Katara sighed in frustration, “this isn’t working.”

“Dear sister, why do you have so little faith?” Sokka began dramatically, only to gasp, slap himself in the forehead, then say, “what if we break something?”

Aang looked sceptical, “just because they’re Fire Nation doesn’t mean we should just break things.”

Sokka shook his head excitedly, “they’ll have engineers, right?”

Katara nodded, sharing Sokka’s excitement, “so if we break something, they’ll have to come and fix it!”

“Exactly!” Sokka nodded at one of the pipes, “Katara?”

She nodded, unscrewing her water pouch, and bending a small amount around the pipe. Then, with a flick of her wrist, she froze the water in place. Sokka grinned, taking what Zuko had decided was a club from his belt, and smashed the ice. The pipe exploded, and Zuko instinctively moved to cover his face, the room was quickly beginning to fill with steam and Zuko waved a hand in front of his face to try and dissipate it.

Seconds later the sound of footsteps could be heard echoing off the corridor walls. Zuko looked over at Sokka, his features almost indistinguishable in the smoke, he seemed to be grinning. A figure appeared in the doorway to the room, his broad shoulders almost filling the doorway, a little shiver of fear ran through Zuko. He pushed down the fear, looking over at Katara, she was stood ready in a waterbending stance. The figure moved forward, but Katara moved faster, within seconds the man was encased in ice, the schematics clenched in an unfrozen fist.

She smirked, pulling them from his fist, and continuing down the corridor. Zuko watched her in awe, very aware that she could’ve killed at any time she wanted.

A few seconds later they followed her. When they caught up with her, she grinned, and handed Sokka the schematics.

Sokka nodded slowly, unrolling the schematics so the others could peer over his shoulder at it. Zuko knew little about mechanics, but the diagram of the drill that filled the page was surprisingly self-explanatory. Sokka mumbled several words to himself, then said, “if we take out these supports,” he ran his finger over the diagram as he spoke, “the entire drill should collapse.”

Now filled with urgency, they raced down the corridors to the centre of the drill, their footsteps echoing off the metal walls. It was likely someone would hear them, but it was even more likely that someone already knew they were here; neither thought gave Zuko much comfort.

They quickly reached the centre of the drill, and Aang and Katara began working at breaking one the metal supports. It was a slow process, and every second he stood still made Zuko more anxious. His brain kept circling back to the fact Azula was here, Azula knew he was here, Azula was coming to find him.

“Hey.” Sokka spoke, Zuko looked at him, trying to ignore the throb of panic that pulsed through him.

Zuko tried to smile at him.

“I feel really useless just standing here.” Sokka said, so quietly Zuko nearly missed it.

Zuko nodded, “I hate just waiting.”

Suddenly, there was a creaking groan, and Zuko found himself looking at the support expectantly. It began to move. Then stopped. Sokka groaned in frustration, the support had slid a foot. At most.

Sokka looked at Zuko expectantly, “any bright ideas?”

Zuko paused, considering, “what if we just weakened the supports, instead of cutting through them?”

Sokka nodded, a new plan forming, “that way Aang would just have to deliver a big enough blow to the top of the drill, and the whole thing would collapse.”

When Katara and Aang had made their way back over to them, Aang said, “this isn’t working.”

“We have a new plan,” he was smiling a little now, “we just need to weaken the supports, instead of cutting through them, then you can deliver a blow to the top of the drill and the whole thing should collapse.”

Aang nodded at the plan, Sokka looked at Katara who nodded her approval as well.

“Well then, we better get to it.” Sokka said cheerfully.

Katara glared at him.

Sokka coughed, “you should get to it.” He amended weakly. 

As Katara and Aang cut through the metal, Sokka and Zuko stood there, the silence would’ve been awkward if Zuko hadn’t been so preoccupied by anxiety, and Sokka hadn’t been bouncing on the balls of his feet, clearly just as anxious as Zuko.

When Aang and Katara finally returned, Sokka sighed in relief, visibly relaxing. Their return calmed Zuko a little too, though the threat of Azula still loomed in his mind.

“Alright,” Sokka began, “let’s get-” 

He yelped, ducking as a ball of blue fire shot over his head.

Zuko cursed, he had felt the heat of the fire rushing past, it had been close, too close. Instead of relief, he was shocked Azula had missed. There had to be a reason, if she had wanted them dead, they would be.

Zuko turned quickly to see Mai, Ty Lee and Azula on one of the walkways above them. They needed to move, from her advantage Azula could easily pick them off if she wished, they needed to get to somewhere they stood a chance against them. ( _Some alternate reality where she doesn’t horribly outmatch you_ , his brain helpfully supplied.)

Aang shouted something, the words were lost as another fireball flew over their heads, but the sentiment was clear. Zuko ran.

It was only as he raced down the corridor that Zuko realised she’d been toying with them, a heavy feeling of dread settled in his stomach, so sure she would win, Azula had let them go.

Another ball of fire flew past him, and Zuko felt the heat against his arm, too close.

He yelped in surprise as Sokka’s hand grabbed his wrist, pulling him along. Their footsteps echoed off the metal walls, Zuko could hear the shrieking of pipes and hum of the engine in his ears, almost drowned out by the panicked beat of his own heart. He did his best to ignore the noise, focus on the footsteps, on running. Three pairs of footsteps, he thought, three people. His first thought was they’d lost someone, his second was that they were being followed. Both filled him with dread. He could feel panic building in him like a wave, he needed to keep moving, focus on not drowning.

Sokka stopped suddenly, so suddenly that Zuko bumped into him. It would’ve almost been comical had it not been for the panic clawing at his throat.

Sokka cursed softly, “dead end.”

Zuko brain began to spin, panicked thoughts becoming a mess with the few remaining rational ones; _there had to be some way out, something, something._

“Hello Zuzu,” Zuko froze, thoughts of escape gone, “Zuzu’s friend.” Azula sneered.

Zuko turned slowly, his body unwilling to comply, as if in ignoring Azula it would make her go away. A childish rationality, built from childish fear.

“Why do you call him that?” Sokka asked, he sounded genuinely curious, not like someone facing death.

Azula laughed. It echoed off the walls in a way that only reminded Zuko just how trapped he was.

“You mean he hasn’t told you?”

Zuko shook his head numbly. _No._

Azula sneered again, “you always were a coward, Zuzu.”

Sokka opened his mouth again, Zuko wanted desperately to do _something_. But his body was frozen, as if he were watching everything through a screen.

“It’s a childhood nickname.” Azula said.

_Stop._

Sokka only looked more confused, “what-?”

Azula laughed again, and Zuko saw her hands twitch, numbly he was aware that it was bad. “I’m surprised you hadn’t noticed, everyone used to say we looked so similar.”

She paused, sighing dramatically when Sokka continued to look confused.

“I’m his sister.”

The carefully built dam came crashing down. Panic flooding in, threatening to drown him. Zuko was barely aware that his breaths had become short and sharp as he looked at Sokka. Sokka expression was unguarded, changing quickly from confusion to fear as the realisation set in.

“That means-”

Azula laughed, almost hysterically, “your friend Zuzu is the Fire Lord’s son.”

Sokka looked as if he’d barley heard Azula, he was looking at Zuko as if it was the first time he’d seen him, his expression a mess of hurt and fear and confusion.

It hurt Zuko more than he’d imagined.

“Is it,” Sokka voice shook a little, he took a deep breath; steadying himself, Zuko realised suddenly that he knew Sokka well enough to know this, “is it true?”

Zuko looked at Sokka, realising he could read every emotion in Sokka’s face, realising that there was no way out of this, he nodded.

It was as if Zuko had been unfrozen, suddenly sped up. Every little emotion in Sokka’s face hurt, every hint of betrayal, and it hurt even more because Zuko knew he deserved it. He’d lied, and in doing so he’d betrayed them. He’d betrayed Sokka. _He’d hurt Sokka._

Sokka moved towards him, and he stepped back instinctively. He deserved this, Sokka was right to be angry with him.

Then Sokka spoke, his voice soft, “you left, right?”

Zuko nodded dumbly. He didn’t see why it mattered. (Besides, technically he’d been banished.)

Sokka smiled at him, not the grin Zuko was used to, but something softer, more gentle, “then it’s ok.”

“But I’m the Fire Lord’s son.”

“You’re not fighting for him, are you?”

Zuko shook his head rapidly. Of course, he wasn’t.

Sokka smiled again, “then you’re a friend.”

Zuko blinked at him, letting the words register, then nodded slowly.

Sokka smiled at him again. Zuko did his best to smile back.

Azula coughed, “as touching as this is, I have a city to conquer.”

Suddenly, a ball of blue flames flew towards them. Zuko threw up his arms instinctively, doing his best to stop the flames. He felt the heat rush past him, and heard Sokka say something

behind him, his words lost to the roaring flames.

Once the flames had dissipated, Sokka said, “we need to get out of here.”

Around them the drill groaned, the small spark of relief that Aang had succeeded was quickly replaced by the much more urgent realisation that if they didn’t move, they would

likely end up dead. 

Zuko nodded, following Sokka, as they raced towards some sort of exit.

Soon they found one, a small service hatch that Zuko had to use all his strength to open, but then they were outside. Stumbling away from the drill as it groaned and creaked, gasping in

the fresh air.

Beside him, Sokka laughed, it was the laugh of a man who knew he’d escaped death, and was simply glad to be alive.

Aang landed beside them, grinning in a way that only he could.

Sokka looked at Zuko, still grinning, the remainders of a laugh shining in his eyes, “I guess we saved the city.”


End file.
